1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to signalling devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to an emergency signalling flare.
2. Background Art
Distress signalling devices frequently play a critical role in the effective rescue of, or rendering of assistance to, personnel in emergency situations. In a typical scenario, an individual, or a group of individuals, may be lost in a land area or on a body of water. Often, such persons are subjected to severe cold and exposure, and, accordingly, expeditious rendering of aid is usually crucial. Perhaps the single most important factor impacting the overall time required to bring aid to such a person is the amount of time required to identify the person's location.
A number of devices and techniques are known for assisting in determining the location of a person requiring aid. One broad category of such devices are those which render the location of the person more visible to those about him, including both casual observers and active searchers. Some such devices include flares, such as parachute flares, floating flares, and ground resting flares which generate a bright light. Other such devices include smoke markers and smoke floats which generate a cloud of smoke about the location of the emergency.
A number of deficiencies have been encountered in the use of such conventional emergency signalling devices. For example, it is known that typical flares, which usually generate a bright point of light, frequently fail to be noticed by casual observers who are not actively searching for the emergency location. For example, it is not unusual for persons in distress at sea to fire flares which function normally, but which nevertheless fail to be noticed by personnel on board passing craft, even though some of the larger of such craft maintain both visual and radar lookouts. This deficiency is particularly pronounced during daytime, when the light emitted by the flare may not be noticed by a person against bright sunlight, unless the person is looking directly towards the general location of the flare.
A further deficiency of such conventional flares lies in the fact that they typically generate a point source of light. Even if an observer notices such a point source of light, it is often very difficult for a single observer to ascertain the exact location of the flare itself, to say nothing of the origin from which the flare was fired, without triangulation of the point based on observations made by two persons at different locations. Furthermore, conventional flares which are fired into the air typically do not leave a significant trail of smoke which an observer could effectively track back to the point of origin. Usually, there is only a weak or nonexistent incidental trail of smoke from the burning propellant charge which, even in daytime, is generally insufficient for an observer to track the path of the flare back to its source. At night, of course, such a smoke trail would be virtually useless to an observer trying to determine the firing point of the flare. Accordingly, it will be understood that with typical conventional flares, it is often very difficult for an observer to determine the point of their origin, and hence the location of the person requiring assistance.
Yet another deficiency of conventional flares is often encountered when using conventional hand held flares which launch projectiles, such as parachute flares, aloft. Commonly, such hand held flares have a small chain depending from their lower end which is pulled by an operator to fire the flare. In practice, this small chain is often very difficult to grip with cold and/or wet hands, which is precisely the condition of the hands of many of the persons requiring emergency assistance. Furthermore, the exterior of such conventional hand held flares typically takes the form of a smooth-sided cylinder. While this form may readily fit in the hand of an operator, it is often very difficult to prevent the cylinder from slipping longitudinally through the hand of the operator, particularly if it or the hand is wet. Consequently, this configuration not only complicates activation of the flare by a person attempting to pull on the typical firing chain, but it also often permits the recoil of the barrel (which results from the launch of the flare from within the barrel) to drive the barrel longitudinally rearward through the operator's hand, so that the mouth of the barrel ends up near or within the operator's fingers, which may result in serious burns.
Accordingly, there is a need for an emergency signalling device which will be more readily noticed by observers, and which will permit such observers to determine the point of origin of the device. Furthermore, there is a need for such a device which is easier for a person in distress to operate, as well as one which can be operated by such person with less risk of injury to the person's hands.